Cartons for encasing and dispensing multiple articles such as soft drink cans or bottles are useful for enabling consumers to transport, store, and access the articles for consumption. The consumer commonly removes only one article at a time, but typically prefers the flexibility to easily access two or more articles at a time. To that end, it is desirable to have cartons with dispensers which allow one or more articles to be removed at a time, while continuing to encase the remaining articles. The consumer tears out a portion of the carton to form an opening from which articles may be dispensed.
When the articles contained in the carton are cylindrical, and are disposed in the carton upon their sides, it is important that the articles be constrained such that the remaining articles do not roll out of the dispenser when one is removed. It is also important to restrain all of the articles such that when the carton is first opened, the first article does not unexpectedly and undesirably fall out of the carton. Thus, it can be appreciated that it would be desirable to have a carton with a dispenser that constrains articles to prevent the articles from undesirably rolling from or otherwise exiting the carton when one article is removed, or when the carton is first opened.
It is known to provide a carton having a dispenser for articles, which is provided when part of the carton is substantially detached or torn away from the upper end portion of the carton to expose an endmost article for removal. A problem associated with such known cartons is that a user can have difficulty in grasping articles to remove the articles from the dispenser. For example, there are typically multiple rows or tiers of horizontally disposed articles, one above the other, carried within the carton. Once the endmost article of an upper row of articles is removed from the carton through the dispenser, a user may find it difficult to secure a grip on the endmost article on the lower row of the carton. The present invention and its certain embodiments seek to overcome or at least mitigate the problems of the prior art.
It can be appreciated, therefore, that it also would be desirable to provide a carton having an improved article dispenser that is convenient to use and facilitates access to the articles.